


You are invited to the Parker Family Christmas

by BBCotaku



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Ice Skating, Irondad Secret Santa 2019, Secret Santa, Tony is a good dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21901771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBCotaku/pseuds/BBCotaku
Summary: You’re invited to the Parker family Christmas.Please meet us at The Queens Ice Arena at 11:30A Secret Santa will be held after ($20 max)Looking forward to seeing you!
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: Iron Dad Secret Santa 2019





	You are invited to the Parker Family Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is a secret santa gift for @spider-beep on tumblr.
> 
> I did a combination of all three of your prompts, I hope you enoy! It was really fun to write.

Peter Parker liked lists, it was about the only organised thing about him. 

Before he became a superhero Peter had laid out his life in a little notebook Aunt May had gotten him, one with the first 200 digits of Pi arranged into the shape of an actual pie on the cover. Once he became a superhero, however, he quickly learned that super suits weren’t often made with pockets in mind. As a result, most of Peter’s to-do-lists these days ended up on his arms.

Peter looked down at the inky smudges streaked down his right forearm: 

_ 4/12 _

_ Test 3rd P _

_ Geo hmwk due tmr _

_ Patrol (10pm latest!) _

_ Ask Mr Stark xmas  _

He crossed out the top three tasks one by one. He’d aced the test, the geography homework had been a pain, but it was done, and he and Mr Stark had just finished off their nightly patrol of Queens.

One task left. 

Realistically, Peter knew this one was probably the easiest. However, the butterflies in his stomach seemed to disagree. There were two main reasons this was a horrible idea: 

  1. Tony stark was ridiculously rich and could afford an amazing Christmas.
  2. Peter Parker was ridiculously not and could probably scrape together an okay Christmas at best. 



He heard a low  _ thud _ as Tony landed on the rooftop a few paces behind him. 

“Sorry, Kid. Line was a nightmare.” Tony walked over to where Peter sat, his legs dangling over the edge of the skyscraper they’d decided to end the night on. Tony sat down beside him and offered him an open box of doughnuts. 

Peter quickly pulled up his sleeve to cover the list, tucking his sharpie behind his ear. “Thanks, Mr Stark.” He picked a random one and shoved it into his mouth. Superheroing was hungry work, after all. 

“Don’t mention it.” Tony took a bite of his own doughnut and set the box down between them. In the dim light, Peter could only just make out the angry scars that spread up the right side of Tony’s neck, remnants of his final battle with the mad titan, Thanos. 

The doughnut glued up his throat and he coughed, banging his fist against his chest. 

Tony seemed to tense a little bit at the sound. “You okay, kid?” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Why the hell was he so nervous? He was an avenger now, forty minutes ago he’d been fighting three armed robbers. He could handle this. 

Peter cleared his throat. “So, Aunt May wanted me to ask if you and Pepper and Morgan wanted to come around ours for Christmas dinner.” See. That wasn’t too bad, was it? Only, now he had to wait for Tony’s reaction which was a hundred times worse. 

Tony rubbed his mouth on the back of his hand, smudging pink icing across his chin. “Yeah, that sounds great, Morgan will be thrilled. She’s always asking how you are..” 

She was? That was enough to make Peter smile. “So, we have this tradition that we go ice skating and she wanted to ask--”

“Wait, you didn’t say anything about ice skating.” 

“Yeah..well...it’s tradition. We go ice skating and have like a...lunch-dinner thing afterwards. Happy’s coming.” Peter still wasn’t quiet used to the fact that  _ Happy  _ of all people had ended up dating his aunt. 

“Well, now I  _ have _ to come. Happy, ice skating? I can’t pass up that once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Peter really couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “Great!” 

“It’s not a definite, I still need to ask Pepper about it.”

“Right, of course.” Peter nodded. 

“Text me the details.” 

That was another thing he couldn’t get used to, having Tony Stark’s number in his phone. He gave Tony a thumbs up. “Thanks, Mr Stark.” 

Tony huffed a small laugh. “I should be thanking you, Kid, you’re the one inviting us.”

Peter wanted to hit himself. “Right.” 

“Thank you.” 

Peter smiled. “You’re welcome.”

\---

To say May Parker took party-planning seriously would be an understatement. Peter had learned from a very young age that it was best to just let her organise things on her own and the joint Parker-Stark Christmas was no different. 

She’d even written out invitations, which Peter had taken a picture of and sent to Tony as NYC’s mailing system had a weird habit of eating anything that they sent. 

_ You’re invited to the Parker family Christmas. _

_ Please meet us at The Queens Ice Arena at 11:30 _

_ A Secret Santa will be held after ($20 max) _

_ Looking forward to seeing you! _

The Secret Santa had posed a bit of a challenge, as the names had to be sent by text and Morgan Stark was still a little too young for a cellphone. Eventually, Pepper suggested that the two of them do a joint present instead, which seemed to take a huge weight off May’s shoulders. 

She sent the texts revealing the names fourteen days before Christmas day. 

Peter was significantly less nervous about the Secret Santa than he had been when inviting the Starks. 

At least, he  _ was _ until the words “You are gifting to: Tony Stark!” appeared on the screen. What could he give a millionaire who already had everything? Especially, something under $20. 

He’d been hoping for Aunt May, he knew what she liked. Hell, he would have been fine with Happy, or Morgan, maybe even Pepper at a push, but Tony? 

Peter sucked at his teeth and wondered if it was too late to ask Aunt May to switch the names around. He didn’t, instead, he plonked himself down in front of his computer and typed:  _ Good secret Santa ideas  _ into google. 

The first link claimed, “20 secret Santa gifts that are perfect for coworkers!” Which had sounded perfect. However, by the time Peter reached the end of the list, he couldn’t help but doubt the sanity of the person who wrote it. (Who the hell would want engraved pencils for a Christmas present?) He tried the next two links and found himself similarly confused as to why anyone would buy anything like this. 

He sank low in his seat and prayed for a miracle as he clicked the fourth link. The first couple of suggestions were pretty horrific, so horrific, in fact, that he was genuinely considering texting Ned and MJ for ideas. Just as he was about to reach for his phone, Peter reached the final suggestion and stopped.

He checked the price, only $5, plus shipping. Surely that was a mistake. Surely that was too good to be true. 

Peter searched the name of the product and, sure enough, the price did not change. 

He threw his hands in the air. Job done, thank God for the internet.

\---

Christmas day ended up being one of the coldest on record, so much so that stepping into the ice rink was actually a relief. Disappointingly, despite the cold, there was absolutely no sign of snow, which wasn’t actually that surprising to Peter. 

In his nearly 17 years of life, not once had he ever actually experienced a white Christmas (he’d been very disappointed to learn that it had snowed on two of the Christmases he’d missed while he was ‘blipped’) 

“Uncle Peter!” Morgan Stark bolted over to him, hugging his legs. 

“Hey, man,” Peter grinned and knelt down to give her a hug. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Merry Christmas! Mom and dad are getting the skates.”

“Yeah?” 

She nodded. “Dad’s getting me a penguin.” 

It took Peter a moment to realise that she was referring to one of the penguin-shaped stands that kids could use to stay upright while they skated and not an actual penguin (though he honestly wouldn’t put it past Tony to buy her one). 

“I could teach you how to skate if you want,” he offered. 

Her eyes lit up. “Can you?” 

“I think you already promised mom you’d skate with her, Little Miss.” Tony came over, a pair of child’s skates in one hand, and a plastic penguin in the other. Now, under the harsh lighting of the ice rink, his scars were unavoidable. As was the contrast between his civilian clothes, and the bulk of his prosthetic arm. 

Strange and Banner had done their best to save it, but there wasn’t really much that could have been done. Given the power emitted by the infinity stones, he’d been lucky to have just lost an arm. 

Someone (Morgan, Peter assumed) had stuck unicorn and snowmen magnets to him. Peter ached to ask him how he’d managed to make it so that the magnets didn’t mess with the arm’s movements, but he figured it was probably inappropriate to ask. 

Tony flashed Peter a smile. “Merry Christmas, kid. Where’s your aunt?” 

Peter pointed to the ice, where Happy had a death-grip on Aunt May’s arm. 

Tony laughed. “Doing great, Happy!” he called, making Happy look up from his warbling feet. If looks could kill, Tony would have keeled over there and then. “You guys weren’t waiting long, were you?” 

Peter shook his head. “Only a couple of minutes. Where are your skates?” 

Tony had moved over to a small bench. “Come sit here, Squirt, so I can get your skates on.” 

Morgan rushed over to him, a wide smile on her lips.

Peter, meanwhile, cleared his throat. “Where are your skates, Mr Stark?” 

“Oh, you know,” Tony said as he slipped off Morgan’s shoes. “I didn’t think it was a good idea to take a loaded weapon onto the ice.” He waved his metal arm for emphasis.

While it was true that the arm was basically a portable version of his Iron-man suit, Peter wasn’t convinced. “You could put the safety on.” 

“Doesn’t have one.” 

“You wouldn’t be near Morgan if it didn’t.” 

Tony looked up at him, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. His face seemed to say ‘if Morgan wasn’t here, you’d be so dead.’ But she was, so instead Tony shrugged. “I’d rather just watch.” 

“May isn’t going to like that.” 

“I said I’d come, I never said I’d skate.” 

Peter crossed his arms. “You can’t skate, can you?” 

“I never said that.” 

“It’s fine if you can’t.” He pointed back to the ring. “Happy can’t either.” 

“I’M DOING BETTER THAN YOU, PARKER.” 

Tony rolled his eyes. “I can skate fine, I just don’t want to.” 

Morgan frowned. “You’re not skating?” she asked, her lips pouted ever-so-slightly. 

“I’m tired, Squirt. You can skate with mommy.” Tony finished tying her skates with a flourish. 

She shook her head. “I’m not skating if you don’t!” 

“Morgan, c’mon. You’ve been looking forward to this all week…” as he spoke, it became very clear that this was a battle that Tony had already lost. 

Less than ten minutes later, Peter was holding Tony’s hands at an arm’s length as he led him onto the ice. Morgan and Pepper (who seemed more at home on the ice than on solid ground) were already darting around the rink. Followed by a significantly slower Happy and Aunt May. 

“I’ve got a handicap,” Tony muttered, his head bowed to watch each tiny step. “My centre of gravity is all off.” 

“Lean more to the left then--and glide, don’t step. Like this.” Peter skated backwards a little, making an effort to emphasis the way he arched his feet. In fairness, he was kind of cheating. Two (well, technically seven) years ago he would have been flat on his face by now. Now, however, his spider-senses seemed to right his balance automatically. 

Tony shuffled forward, not taking his eyes off his feet. 

“Keep your head up,” Peter told him. “If you look down you’ll--” 

As if on queue, Tony’s foot slipped out from under him. 

Peter gripped both his arms as tight as he could and drew a sharp hiss between his teeth. Tony’s metallic arm was absolutely  _ freezing _ and his spider-senses were not having it. He let go. 

Tony landed so heavily that Peter was surprised the ice didn’t crack. 

For a solid moment, the ice rink was completely silent. 

“...Mr Stark?” Peter asked. He couldn’t have killed Tony Stark. He couldn’t have killed Tony Stark. He couldn’t have _killed_ _Tony Stark._

“Kid,” Tony said into the ice. 

“Yeah?” 

“Get me off this thing.” 

“Yes, Mr Stark.”

\---

The drive back to the Parker’s apartment was deathly silent. 

“Don’t worry, Parker,” Happy said, not taking his eyes off the road. “Boss’ gotten a lot better with his ego.” 

Peter leant his head against the window, watching the passing buildings with a dead-eyed stare. He’d screwed up worse before, he knew that. But the last time he’d really screwed up he’d gotten his suit taken away. Was humiliating Tony Stark enough to get kicked out The Avengers? 

No. Surely not. Cap was still considered an Avenger and he’d almost  _ killed _ Tony. Then again, Cap wasn’t publically an Avenger anymore. Publically, he was dead. Realistically, he was old. 

The Starks were waiting in the hallway when they arrived. Pepper had a carrier bag under one arm, presumably full of presents. 

Peter braced himself for a harsh look, but Tony actually smiled when he saw him. Maybe he hadn’t screwed up after all? 

Aunt May let them all in and Peter became painfully aware of just how small their apartment was. It was cramped enough with just him, Aunt May and Happy. The addition of the Starks made it pretty much unbearable. 

Thankfully, Aunt May and Happy disappeared into the kitchen fairly quickly, which helped a little. 

“Want me to put on a movie?” Peter asked Morgan, who nodded. 

Admittedly, the Parkers didn’t actually have a lot of holiday movies, but he managed to find a battered copy of  _ The Muppet’s Christmas Carol _ . 

About twenty minutes into the movie, Aunt May came out of the kitchen. “I’ve been kicked out,” she announced, sitting down on the floor in front of the cramped couch. 

“Happy can be a bit of a control freak,” Tony said with a knowing nod. “The number of complaints from employees I had to sort out when we moved to the Avenger’s base was record-breaking.”

Pepper raised an eyebrow. “The number of complaints _ you _ sorted out?”

“The number of complaints my lovely wife who I love more than anything, sorted out.” he corrected, earning a laugh from Morgan. 

\---

Peter would never admit it, but he was kind of glad that Happy had taken over the cooking. He loved his aunt to pieces, but to say her cooking was...sub-par was putting it gently. 

He didn’t know why Happy could cook as well as he did, but it was one of the things that made the relationship between him and May a little more bearable. 

At least, it was until dessert. 

Aesthetically, the cake looked amazing: pastel-pink with whipped cream and mini marshmallows on top. It was a work of art that Peter knew Happy had spent most of Christmas Eve baking. 

The taste, however, made him want to gag. 

Peter knew the sociably acceptable thing to do was eat it anyway. He knew this, his spider-sense, however, did not. Before he’d even known what he was doing, Peter had spat his mouthful of cake back onto his plate. 

“Peter!” Aunt May cried out. 

“Sorry! Sorry!” he pressed a napkin to his mouth. “Happy, what’s in that?” 

Happy looked completely taken aback. “Oreos and peppermint, mostly.” 

Tony snorted. “That’ll be it then.” He reached over the table to hand Peter a glass of water. “I visited Australia a couple of years ago,” he explained. “My friend at the time told me that peppermint oil can be used as a spider repellent.” 

Peter swished the water around his mouth before spitting it back into the glass, earning him another dirty look from Aunt May. “No kidding...uh, no offence, Happy. I’m sure it tastes great.” 

“It’s fine,” Happy said in a way that distinctively told Peter that it definitely was not fine.

Peter got to his feet. “I’m gonna go clean my teeth.” 

“Won’t that just make things worse?” Morgan asked, her cheeks stained pink from the cake. 

Peter shook his head. “My toothpaste’s spearmint. I guess that’s different.” He’d have to do more research on this later, he decided. 

\---

It took a solid ten minutes of brushing to get the taste of peppermint out of his mouth, by which time everyone else had finished eating. They all moved back into the lounge, where Peter and Aunt May took the floor while the rest sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch. 

“Can we do the presents now?” Morgan asked.

Aunt May nodded. “Sorry to keep you waiting.” 

Morgan beamed from ear to ear as the adults scrambled to get the presents together. 

Peter watched them all exchange presents, his gift box growing heavier and heavier in his hands with each passing minute. 

“Looks like we got each other, kid,” Tony said, holding out a small package. “I want to preface, May, that this definitely cost less than $20.”

That earned him an eyebrow raise. 

“I’m just saying.” Tony rubbed his hands together before ripping open his present. Inside was a coffee mug with the words “World’s greatest inventor” written on one side in metallic gold paint. Tony laughed, holding it up. “Now I have something to confirm my suspicions. Thanks, kid.”

“You’re welcome” Peter smiled sheepishly, passing his own present from hand to hand. It was tiny, barely the size of his palm. He unwrapped it carefully and felt something fall from the paper into his lap. It was a small metal keychain in the shape of the spider-logo from his super-suit. This wasn’t something you could buy in a store. “You...made this?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper. 

“It’s a bit simple, I know, but--”

“No, no! Mr Stark, this is amazing.” Peter grinned from ear to ear. “Thank you so much!” 

“It was nothing, kid, really.” 

Suddenly, Morgan started screeching. “Snow!” she cried, wriggling off Pepper’s lap and over to the window. 

“You’re kidding.” In a split second, Peter was at her side, watching in awe as snow drifted down onto the streets below. 

Tony and Aunt May exchanged looks. 

“Kids.”


End file.
